2014-01-15 |
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Electronic SPS Claims - The Time is Coming!
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is expected to write to more than 20,000 farmers over the next few months to ‘persuade’ them to submit their Single Farm Scheme applications online in 2014.
Moving claims online is becoming an urgent priority for the Rural Payments Agency as the new system, which will administer the replacement to the Single Payment Scheme in 2015, is being designed solely as an online service, writes Mark Barrow of H&H Land & Property Ltd.
Mark Barrow
It’s not all bad news for the farmer who has previously filled in and returned the annual paper forms or for those who are wary of computers and IT systems.
Submitting online has multiple advantages.
It is faster, more secure, and depending on the type of software
used, can have numerous built in safety checks. In addition, the
immediate receipt from an online submission may be a major factor
in attracting claimants to submit online, simply for peace of mind.
2014 is the first year many local RPA headquarters will actually
turn away those handing in a paper claim form.
Although many agree they would rather receive better commodity prices
for the products they sell than receive SPS monies and be bound
by the subsequent cross compliance checks, we cannot get away from
the fact they are now a major part of most farming businesses. Therefore
no risks or short cuts should be taken in securing this vital income.
Using a professional firm to submit your SPS claim can take the pain and worry out of the process and has further advantages over the basic online systems, says Mark: "Not only is there someone to help you through the process but qualified agents will advise on your claim, submit it electronically and all of this is covered by Professional Indemnity Insurance, which means should there be an error by the agent, the claimant is covered. In addition, larger firms such as ourselves, normally have a single case officer assigned to them to ensure that the agent can have greater contact and thus any queries arising are generally resolved quickly and efficiently".
Many people question paying for a professional agent, but the fact that so much money is at risk these days means the fees charged are a good investment (and insurance) against errors. The additional benefit of using an agent is you will be kept up to date with changes to the scheme without having to wade through booklets full of information.
Mark
says:
"Across our offices at H & H Land and Property Ltd
we deal with in excess of 350 SPS claims annually all of which are done
electronically and have been for several years. This means we are familiar
with the systems and processes, it certainly speeds up payments and
the built in checks are invaluable."
There is no doubt that the days of delivering a paper SPS claim to the local RPA office are gone and with the forthcoming changes to the SPS scheme, registering to submit your claim electronically should be a priority. With the 2014 claim deadline now in sight it makes sense to make contact as soon as possible with a qualified agent.
